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I resisted the urge to post in the fall because Keith said everything I would have; I figured he could catch hell for me.

Some day, aikido people who use weapons will be called to answer for their skill. When that day comes, I think it valuable to be prepared to answer for what you do and why you do it. The problem is when you change your answer, depending to whom you are answering. If you tell that doe-eyed newbie tales of yore about aikido's history on the battlefield and the prominent role of weapons in aikido, you should expect to spin the same yarn for the koryu guy you bump into at a seminar. Uh oh.

I love ASU weapons. I will continue to work on my weapons because I feel they have educational value for bodywork, they represent an introduction to weapons, they provide a foundation for instruction and they preserve the culture of aiki. I circle those elements and seek to match my weapons to those expectations. Right, wrong, or ugly. Variety is not necessarily the problem; in fact, cutting variety is often part of a larger curriculum. Rather, I would look at the reasoning behind the sword strike more.

I have heard a variety of reasons for a variety of weapons work in aikido. I am not sure any of them are 100% correct (including mine). I think ultimately, the question is are you prepared for the reckoning? When hoards of koryu people swarm the lands and ask simple questions like, "you don't even know where is the center line, how can your sword be on it?" Or, "why do your rotate your hips?"

Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

Y'know, the rest of us just keep rabbiting on about this and that and pretending to know what we're talking about and every now and then someone comes along and unloads a whole freightload of actual information on us and it just seems to me (and Green Flash Brewing) that some acknowledgement and appreciation of your contribution would be appropriate. So thanks for this. I'm sorry to understand from your last paragraph the the illegitimati are carborundumizing your ass, but I suggest you ignore them.

I noticed the differences in cutting 'types/styles' in practicing and just observing various gendai arts that use swords. Each has their own reasons for them and I just accept those at face value as I have no basis for an educated judgement one way or the other.

I am interested in learning a lot more about sword work for actual combat for various applications and through that learning... come to understand the clear difference between 'systems for :stuff: other than actual sword word (using a bokken or iaito to develop body skills) and systems for combat. I really enjoyed Keith's detailed posts about the various reasons and would like to subscribe to his newsletter. Is there a newsletter? Well, I will go back to using the search button on this forum to see what I can find.

I am currently practicing the Iwama system for body skills along with its weapons. My teachers, every single one of them all the way up to our Shihan who studied with Saito Sensei, are all very clear on 'this is not an actual weapon system and we use it as a tool teach body skills, distance, timing, etc...' So no illusions there. This is especially clear with 'sword taking techniques'.. no one even jokes about 'you may get lucky and pull this off with a real sword wielding expert...', just no. Once again, only training how to move, judge distance and timing.

Just curious to see real sword work and have someone kind enough to break it down for me when some things are not so obvious.